As the eldest son of a wealthy pawnbroker in Sendai, Wancui Doi was born on June 23rd, Meiji 4 (187 1), and his real name was Lin Ji Doi. Father and grandfather are both literary lovers. Influenced by his family environment, he has been familiar with China classics such as The History of the Three Kingdoms and Eighteen History since he was a child.
The book Copy of New Style Poetry, published in Meiji 15 (1882), was written by three scholars, such as Masaichi Waishan, who tried to translate some famous western poems in fresh and fluent Japanese with seven or five tones, thus opening the prelude to the birth of modern Japanese poetry. Doi Wancui couldn't put it down and planted the seeds of poetry deeply in her body.
After Cui graduated from high school at the age of fourteen, his grandfather ordered him to inherit the family business, drop out of school and practice in a pawnshop. Later, Sendai English School was established, featuring work-study programs. The boy's chest is burning with a blazing flame of knowledge. At the strong request of her parents, she finally resumed her studies as she wished. At this time, he was deeply moved by the biography of Hugo serialized by Liberty Lamp Daily, and he was full of heartfelt yearning for this great writer who went down in history.
In the 21st year of Meiji (1888), Cui Wan, 18, transferred to Sendai No.2 Senior High School (referred to as "No.2 High School"). He took the word "Late Cui" as his pen name, which was from the poem "Leisure along the stream, gloomy with the late Cui" written by Fan Ju, a poet in China in the Song Dynasty. After six years of study, he was admitted to the English Department of Imperial University in Tokyo when he graduated at the age of 24, and began to take off in literary creation.
In addition to English major in the university, Tui Wancui also dabbled in foreign languages such as German, French and Italian. Get in touch with the famous works of the East and the West and gain more and more knowledge. The works of great poets such as Qu Yuan, Goethe and Shelley gave birth to the poetic soul of Cui's later period.
In the second year after entering school, Wan Cui became the editorial board of Imperial Literature magazine. In the editing process, for the simple motive of filling the vacancy in the page, Cui later began to try to create new-style poems, and published poems such as Red Leaves and Green Mountains. Who knows, after that, it was out of control and passionate, and a generation of poets "Late Cui" was born.
The thirty-first year of Meiji (1898) is of special significance to the late Cui Doi, and his two life-long masterpieces were born at this time. I graduated from university the year before last, and temporarily worked in Yuwen Pavilion Middle School in Tokyo.
First of all, the Tokyo Conservatory of Music asked the poetic young man at that time for the lyrics of a song collection "The Moon in the Desert City". She thought of he cheng, where she swam, and the former site of Julia, her hometown of Sendai. During the Meiji Restoration, Song Ping Rong Bao, a warlord, refused to accept the reform forces and fought fiercely with officers and men in he cheng, which was known as the "Battle of Protecting Chen". At that time, 19 teenagers were guarded by the "White Tigers". When they watched the smoke billowing from the top of the mountain, they learned that the city had been destroyed, and out of feudal loyalty, they drew their swords and killed themselves. This tragedy deeply touched Cui's heart in his later years. All the splendor and disputes in the world will disappear in the long river of time, and only the moon in the middle of the night will last forever. The moon in the desert city shows the desolation of history through the multiple sharp contrasts between war and peace, the past and tonight. This eastern view of impermanence is also the ideological basis that runs through Cui's later works. The Moon in the Desert City was composed by the composer Taro Ryong, and immediately spread all over the cities and villages of Japan.
In the same year, Doi published a long narrative poem "Stars Falling in the Autumn Wind and Five Bird" in Imperial Literature. This poem is divided into seven chapters, written in a style close to China's poetry, with bright voice, grand conception and great momentum. This is a magnificent masterpiece with the characteristics of Cui's late period. Based on the historical story of Zhuge Liang's six trips to Qishan and his illness in Wuzhangyuan, it is interspersed with memories of three visits to the thatched cottage, burning Chibi, and trusting the lonely and white emperor. Carefully portraying Zhuge Liang was loyal to repay Liu Bei's kindness and devoted himself to restoring the Han Dynasty. It not only laments that there is nothing anyone can do in the face of impermanent providence, but also eulogizes the eternal sincerity of the world. Once published, The Stars Falling in the Autumn Wind and Five Bird was warmly loved by young people at that time, and many people were able to recite wonderful paragraphs.
The following year, Doi Doi compiled more than 40 of his poems into the first book of poetry, Love between Heaven and Earth, which was published by Bowen Museum. It immediately spread around the world, and later printed dozens of versions.
Doi Wan Cui's poems have always been vigorous, and at the same time, they have some contemplative religious feelings. Gao Niu wrote in his Love between Heaven and Earth: "His poems are about his philosophy, thoughts and religion. Non-game songs are prayers, and non-impromptu feelings are eternal thoughts. " It is said that Cui's later works have the charm of Dante and Hugo.
Cui's poems in the late Doi period are consistent with Japan's vigorous national enterprising spirit and high national morale in the early Meiji period, and are the product of the society's call for noble ideology and morality and vigorous spirit. The popularity of his poems was also related to the high level of Chinese literacy in Japan at that time.
Doi is one year older than Shimazaki Tōson, and he became famous later than Fujimura. On the occasion of the publication of Love between Heaven and Earth, Shimazaki Tōson's best-selling book Ruocai Collection has been published for two years. Shimazaki Tōson often uses the inherent harmony to express the lingering love theme, with a soft style; While pushing Wancui laments the heroic history with the style of "Chinese style", which is a vigorous male style. The temperament of Fujimura and Cui's later period is in sharp contrast. They eulogized the romantic spirit of Meiji era from different aspects, and were known as the "double wall" of poetry at that time. Modern Japanese poetry has developed from the translation of new style poems to Fujimura and evening cooking, which can be said to be truly established.
In the thirty-second year of Meiji (1899), after being introduced by the matchmaker, Tuiwatsu married Ms. Limba, and became the No.2 professor of her alma mater the following year, and returned to Sendai as a famous poet in China.
After the publication of Xiao Zhong, the second book of poetry in the thirty-fourth year of Meiji (190 1), Wancui Doi embarked on a trip to Europe. In more than three years, he traveled to Britain, France, Germany and Italy at his own expense and personally visited the long-awaited history of European literature.
Cui returned to Japan in the evening of Meiji 38 (1905) and continued to teach in Sendai No.2 Middle School. The following year, the third collection of poems, Roaming in the East China Sea, was published. In his later years, he published many poems such as Dawn, The Road to Tianma, Shout to Asia, Kamikaze and so on.
Shimazaki Tōson turned to novel creation after publishing his fourth poetry anthology Plum Blossom in the 32nd year of Meiji. After pushing Cui to write poems all his life, he always maintained an impassioned style. But unfortunately, there is little new development in the later poetic realm. In the later period after Dazheng, Cui's poems were far behind the times in both thought and language, with few excellent works and little interest in poetry. As far as the general history of literature is concerned, Toi's representative works focus on the first two poems.
Shimazaki Tōson's lyrical style was inherited by Tian Bo's Weeping Violet and North Plain White, and its influence lasted for a long time. Tao Wancui's works are only sung as school songs and Liao songs, but they have not been inherited in the history of literature.
In the 12th year of Dazheng (1923), he began to be a lecturer at the Imperial University of Northeast China, teaching English literary works such as Shelley and Keats.
As a lifelong scholar, Doi Doi translated Homer's epic directly from the original Greek. Homer's epic is the source of ancient Greek poetry and the basis of understanding European literary tradition, but Japan knew little about it at that time. After studying Homer's epic, Toevante began to delve into Greek, collected books and materials extensively during her visit to Europe, and then began her unremitting translation work. Some translations of Da Zhengsan's Iliad (19 14) were published in the central public comment. After retiring in the evening of Showa Nine (1934), Cui Ergao decided to translate Homer's epic in full. After hard work, the Iliad was published in the fifteenth year of Showa (1940). When Odyssey was published in the eighteenth year of Showa (1943), Doi Doi was 73 years old, and it was fifty years since he first came into contact with the original text of Homer's epic. Its translation is in the form of Japanese verse with the same number of lines as the original, with elegant style, rich literary flavor and accurate communication of the original intention. In the preface of Iliad, he solemnly wrote: "Since the spread of western European literature to the east, it has gone through three generations of Meiji Taisho Showa, and the translation of Homer's epic has not yet come out, which is really not the reputation of Japanese literature." He translated Homer's epic out of his love for the development of Japanese culture and literature. There is something in common with the impassioned expression in Doi's poems, that is, the persistent spirit throughout his life.
Besides attending university in Tokyo and visiting Europe, Doi Tancui also spent her whole life in her hometown of Sendai. I walked a quiet road to study. According to people who have contacted him, Doi has a square face and dignified bones. He spoke with high spirits, sincerity and enthusiasm, and worked hard all his life. Young people often study until three or four in the middle of the night, drink some whisky and fall asleep in two or three hours. The next day, he was as drunk as a fiddler in class. Someone joked on the blackboard and wrote his name as "Late Drunk". In fact, he didn't drink.
The war years hung over his old age. As a cultural giant with profound insight, he was indignant at Japan's war of aggression against China and denounced the absurdity of militarism. At the same time, as a Japanese born in Meiji era, I can't help but feel all kinds of pains about the defeat of my country. In the air raid in Sendai, 30,000 books and family property were burned. Three children and a wife died one after another. He sat silently in front of the Buddhist shrine all day, burning incense and praying.
Society extended a warm hand to the lonely old man. After the war, the late Cui Hui, composed of students and friends who pushed the late Cui Hui, built the late Cuicaotang as his residence in his former residence. In the 25th year of Showa (1950), Tancui Tujing was awarded the Cultural Medal by the state, which is the highest honor of Japanese artists. Tan Cui went to Tokyo to receive the prize at the age of 80.
In the 27th year of Showa (1952), a poem tablet of "The Moon in the Desert City" was erected on the observation deck of the former site of Yeqing City in Sendai, and the decadent late Cui Qiang attended the unveiling ceremony with crutches. Accompanied by the melodious violin, everyone sang the sad Moon in Desert City in chorus. At this time, the late Cui was generous, and he experienced his country from the prosperity of Meiji to the fiasco of Showa. Now the whole of Japan has become a "ghost town"! Two months later, Doi died at the age of 82. The funeral was held in Sendai City Hall, and thousands of citizens mourned the respected poet.